BUS528 Project Management: Final Presentation

BUS528 Project Management: Group project - Responsibilities Matrix


Created and post by Darren Tay:-

FINANCE: Chapter 10 - The Integrity of Financial Reporting


In the late 1990s U.S. stock markets soared to new highs on optimistic expectations. Few observers would have predicted the coming financial scandals that were soon to afflict U.S. financial markets.

1. Restatements of Previously Published Financial Statement
• The best indicator of possible accounting and auditing failure is when a corporation restates its previously issued financial statements.
• There were an alarming number of restatements in the late 1990s and early 2000s, often accompanied by accounting scandals involving huge sums
2. Asleep at the Switch
• There is plenty of blame from the corporate scandals for the abject failures of all the gatekeepers responsible for safeguarding the integrity of large corporations, namely:-
• Boards of directors
• Audit committes of the boards of directors
• Regulators (SEC)
• Bond rating agencies
• Major institutional stockholders
• CPA
• Independent audit firms
3. The Remedies
• In 2002 the U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (referred to as SOX) in response to the flood of corporate frauds.
• SOX strengthens existing law and significantly increase penalties for violations.

One thing has not changed. Our economy and our society are as dependent on rthical behavior as they ever were.  On the one hand, ethics cannot be forced upon the unwilling. On the other hand, unethical behavior can be punished with greater force. That is te main accomplishment of SOX.

BUS528 Project Management: Chapter 10

Building a High Performance Project Team

Building a positive environment begins he first time the team gets together.  begin establishing our team's culture by setting ground rules.

Team Values:

• Confidentially. We do not discuss project information with anyone outside the project team or the project steering committee.
• Team learning. Be open to new approaches.
• Respect. No personal attacks.
• Accountability. Follow through on commitments.

Meeting Behavior:

• Use active listening. Ask for clarification.
• Be solution focused. Don't just criticize, bring new ideas
• Limit distraction. No cell phones
• Begin and end on time.
• Challenge the group. Explore the pros and cons of all ideas.
• Be prepared

BUS528 Project Management: Chapter 9

Balancing the Trade-off among Cost, Schedule, and Quality

Balancing a project can take place at one of three different levels of authority in an organization, depending on the kind of change needed.

To understand why the decision to change the cost-schedule-quality equilibrium has to be made at the business level consider that:-

1. Cost goals are related to profitability goals. Raising cost targets for the project means reevaluating the profit goals.
2. Schedules are closely linked to the business case. Projects that deliver late often incur some profit penalty, either through missed opportunities or actual monetary penalities spelled out in the contract.
3. Changing the features and performance level of the product affects the quality - and therefore the value - of the end product.